VIRUS ON THG?

[MoNeY3865]

Firefox + Linux = no worries, I click on .exe attachments for fun.

 

[Zorg]

Having not used Interturd Exploiter for even longer than I've not been to either the UK or USA website should I be concerned? [:mousemonkey:2]

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Firefox + Linux = no worries, I click on .exe attachments for fun.

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

 

[Jake_Barnes]

Still getting the "access to http://www.tomshardware.com/us/ is forbidden" with firefox.

No problem with IE but the spybot plug-in (Browser Helper) is saying that it blocked one bad address.

I'm using FF 2.0.0.6 (and Mozilla 1.7.x) - and I've never had any of those problems. There are lot's of false positives with some hurestics functions. But, I've never seen any of these issues some (only a few actually) are reporting.

 

[DXRick]

Well, that explains the strange random 403 errors I got earlier in the week trying to go to the THG home page. It never asked me to download an ActiveX control though, and NAV never alerted me to anything. All I saw was the 403 error or the website not responding one.

I am using IE 7.1.xxxxx.

 

[MU_Engineer]

wtf? man i'm glad i have vista 64 bit. But seriously, whats the deal? Toms with freaking viruses on its site?

You do realize that Vista 64-bit (unless it's IA64, which I *highly* doubt) runs 32-bit code, right? Internet Explorer 7 does apparently run in a kind of a chroot jail of sorts and if you are smart and don't run as Administrator, the virus may not have been able to do much. If you run as Administrator like most people, then the virus could have trashed all of your user files without even tripping UAC. You'd have been in the same boat as any other Windows user. UAC would have only been tripped if you didn't shut it off and the virus tried to change some system settings or files, which is the only thing that Vista would have done differently than any other Windows OS.

Firefox + Linux = no worries, I click on .exe attachments for fun.

MoNeY3865: I also use Firefox on x86_64 Linux, but you should know as well as I do that it's not invulnerable; in fact, far from it. Yes, an .exe binary cannot run by default on a Linux machine as an ELF file cannot execute on a Windows machine. But if you have WINE installed as many do, there's a chance that the virus would have enough Windows compatibility DLLs to execute and carry out its functions. Oops! The joke is on YOU then if you double-click it and WINE runs is. Don't play around with viruses unless you know what you're doing, and that usually involves a "disposable" machine with a stout firewall tracking and blocking access to anything on the network or Internet to analyze what it's doing, a decompiler, and other tools to analyze the mechanism of action and propagation and the code of the virus. If you're clicking on the .exes for fun, my guess is that you're not doing this.

Also, Firefox on Linux is usually as vulnerable to exploits as Firefox on Windows as the program is largely similar. Java, Flash, etc. are just as vulnerable as they are much the same program. Granted then the virus would have to know what to do to a Linux machine afterwards and most don't, but the vector still remains. They could still DDOS Firefox at least. Linux and UNIX machines are high-value targets as they are much more useful if cracked than a Windows box (due to what tools are on them), and I can't tell you how many hits on my firewall I see of people looking for port 22 (SSH.) Linux may be more secure by design than Windows, but NEVER get complacent. If you ever get rooted, you'll realize this in a second. I've never been rooted, but I've known people that have been- our local LUG server was- and it is a real big pain to have that happen.